ATTACHMENT OF BRANCHES. 277 



sels, which he supposes have the power to generate 

 central vessels : for, if this were the case, buds could 

 be traced no deeper than the alburnum of the season 

 in which they appear. Neither is the opinion strength- 

 ened by the fact, that if buds be destroyed in early 

 spring, others appear ; for, in this case, either the 

 buds are such as have not been cut or rubbed off at a 

 depth sufficient to extinguish their vitality, and pre- 

 vent them from shooting forth again laterally ; or, by 

 destroying the already protruded buds, those that re- 

 main latent (two or more germs being often present 

 in the same vital stream, if the expression may be al- 

 lowed), receive a new impulse, sufficient to call into 

 action their dormant powers, and enable them to pro- 

 trude and evolve their leaves, in the same season ; 

 which, had the other buds been left, might not have 

 happened for many years to come. 



This fact is practically known to nurserymen and 

 gardeners, who, without any theory, but guided by 

 experience, act upon it in order to obtain a clean 

 Cherry tree stem. No tree is so apt as this to throw 

 out adventitious buds, but as this would deform and 

 injure the plant, the nurserymen cut them off close to 

 the bark. A second crop of shoots, very soon after- 

 wards make their appearance, which are also taken 

 away by the knife, after which no other appear ; and, 

 if the stem be now cut through under the existing 

 branches, it ceases to grow. That the buds, when 

 they first protrude, receive their nourishment from the 

 descending proper juice, is extremely probable ; but 

 this would also be the case did they arise from the 

 pre-organized germs of Du Hamel. If this reasoning 

 be correct, part of our question is already answered, 

 and we may conclude that all stem buds originate 

 when the young stem is evolved from the seed, and 

 all branch buds at the time that the young branch is 

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